Step 3: Rule Out or Confirm each Possible Cause

A differential diagnosis of your symptoms and risk factors finds the likely cause of creases on earlobes.

Arriving at a Correct Diagnosis

The Analyst™ is our online diagnosis tool that learns all about you through a straightforward process of multi-level questioning, providing diagnosis at the end.

In the Ear/Hearing Symptoms section of the questionnaire, The Analyst™ will ask the following question about diagonal creases on earlobes:

Do you have a diagonal crease (wrinkle) on one or both of your earlobes? A crease may be partial (only partway across the earlobe) or full (completely across the earlobe).

Possible responses:

→ No / don't know
→ Partial crease on one ear
→ Partial crease on both ears
→ Full crease on one ear, possibly partial on other
→ Full crease on both ears

Based on your response to this question, which may indicate diagonal creases on earlobes, The Analyst™ will consider possibilities such as Coronary Disease / Heart Attack. The presence of a diagonal earlobe crease has been recognized as a sign of cardiovascular disease since 1973. Over 30 subsequent studies have been reported in the medical literature, with the largest involving 1,000 unselected patients. The earlobe is richly supplied with blood, and a decrease in flow over an extended period of time is believed to result in collapse of the vascular bed, leading to a diagonal crease.

It appears that individuals with an earlobe crease have a 55% greater risk of dying from heart disease than those without the marking, with the risk becoming even more significant if diagonal creases appear on both earlobes. However, this predictive value does not apply to Orientals, Native Americans, or persons born with certain hereditary disorders.